Events In Egypt Hit Home For Local Family

A family drives by Tahrir Square, the day after former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, the country's first democratically elected president, was ousted from power on July 4, 2013 in Cairo, Egypt. Adly Mansour, chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in as the interim head of state in ceremony in Cairo in the morning of July 4, the day after Morsi was placed under house arrest by the Egyptian military and the Constitution was suspended. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

DETROIT (WWJ) – A local attorney whose family is from Egypt is watching the events unfold overseas. Shareef Akeel says while there are always concerns about the vacuum left behind after a military coup, we’re seeking democracy in action. He says the people want change.

“They have just toppled a 30-year dictator,” said Akeel. “They did not have any rights, or had very little rights. So, they are on high alert. So if there is a single right being usurped they are perhaps over-reacting they just want to make sure that the very thing that they fought for means something.”

Akeel told WWJ’s Sandra McNeill that the people in Egypt were tired of the lack of inclusion and the poor economy.

The uprising, said Akeel, is just part of the growing pains of democracy.

“You have an elected official who is being unseeded – but at the same time you are seeing an expression of the people – they have assembled, they have organized,” he said.

“With Fourth of July here and what it means to be free and what it means to have the ability to organize and protest and assemble – just against that backdrop, when you go and see these fireworks – they mean something,” said Akeel.

Akeel still has family in Egypt, but is not really concerned for their safety. He says the revolution has so far been without bloodshed.